Knowing your enemy?

Okay, so I'm playing an aff lock - he's my main, and I've never leveld another class to level cap. I just recently started trying to get into arenas, gearing up, etc.

I find myself wondering 'wtf just happened' pretty often (mostly w/ CC chains). So, my question... How much does knowing the roles of the other classes is necessary to be a good pvp'er? I mean... Does it help to level the other classes? Read the guides? Or is it just something that comes in time with this kind of thing?

It helps to know all that you possibly can. Most of it comes with time, but you could try dueling everyone and learning their skills a bit at a time. It helps to have someone who will answer your questions.

Personally, I've got every class at 80+, so I know just about all there is to know. It has definitely made me a better pvper and helped me hit 2.2k

Okay, so I'm playing an aff lock - he's my main, and I've never leveld another class to level cap. I just recently started trying to get into arenas, gearing up, etc.

I find myself wondering 'wtf just happened' pretty often (mostly w/ CC chains). So, my question... How much does knowing the roles of the other classes is necessary to be a good pvp'er? I mean... Does it help to level the other classes? Read the guides? Or is it just something that comes in time with this kind of thing?

Leveling other classes is a good way to get to know it, but if you don't want to do that, I'd suggest Dueling a lot or at the very least, browsing through each class/specs abilities on Wowhead or something.

Okay, so I'm playing an aff lock - he's my main, and I've never leveld another class to level cap. I just recently started trying to get into arenas, gearing up, etc.

I find myself wondering 'wtf just happened' pretty often (mostly w/ CC chains). So, my question... How much does knowing the roles of the other classes is necessary to be a good pvp'er? I mean... Does it help to level the other classes? Read the guides? Or is it just something that comes in time with this kind of thing?

You pretty much need a decent understanding of each class/specs abilities for pvp to know how to counter them. I remember when i first started pvping, i didn't know anything about other classes. I gradually picked up things here and there from duels, if i saw something i was like "wtf" to i would ask the person im dueling to elaborate on what he did. The quickest way would probably be to lvl up classes not to max but until you get an understanding of it. If you do nothing and just continue to pvp i'm sure you'll pick it up in time.

I guess I expected that these were things that an attentive player would just naturally pick up on in time, but was looking for an idea as to whether or not actually leveling the other classes was more time-efficient. I've been browsing through the other class/spec guides, but honestly without much hands-on experience with the other classes, I haven't been able to easily make heads or tails of a lot of what I've read.

What I have learned so far has pretty much been through duels with my arena partners so far.

Once you play a class you discover the things that make you feel shit on that class, you learn things other people do to stop your damage and you learn what situations people get themselves into which make them easier targets.

Once you go back on your main class you are now aware of what you can do to lock someone down, what you can do to annoy people and what you can do to avoid their damage.

An actual example, I recently dinged 90 on my Spriest. A few games later I realized how vital it was to keep VT up for mana. Now whenever I play my healer I dispel VT as much as I fucking can. Not only does it DR and stop horrifying you, but it ooms them so damn fast it's funny.

So yeah, it's pretty vital to know about other classes. I'd say if you're expecting to get above 2.2k in a non-fotm comp then you'll probably need to know most enemy icons, what buffs they rely on, how their classes do damage and how to avoid their damage, and what CC they have on what DRs.

After the "WTF" moments (if you aren't dueling and can't ask) take a look at the combat log. The "what just happened to me" section should at least cover ability used etc to give you some idea how it's "built up" etc.

Whenever you can, log on to PTR and screw around with the classes that you don't play. This really helps you get to know other classes that you don't play, and it helps even more seeing as its the upcoming patch which means you'll know them for longer. Even rolling an alt to as low as level 70-80 will get you to know the class pretty damn well. Ask questions to your friends about how their class works. It greatly increases your skill in PVP.

After the "WTF" moments (if you aren't dueling and can't ask) take a look at the combat log. The "what just happened to me" section should at least cover ability used etc to give you some idea how it's "built up" etc.

Just something to add to this, you should get Recount if you don't already. I have mine set to hidden and if I die to something I didn't expect, I do a /recount show, look at deaths and see what killed me and how long it took. The timestamps in recount help a lot to see when different things hit you.

There's no need to perfectly know another class to do good, only the most important things which are:
-What cc and debuffs they have and on what cooldown.
-What offensive cooldowns they have and on what cooldown.
-What their main source of (big) damage is.
-What their defensive cooldowns are and on what cooldown.
-What combination of skills they will likely use.
-What key abilities your opponents have to be succesfull.

You'll learn pretty much all you have to know by just playing your main and seeing what happens. Leveling other classes helps you understand them better, but it's not necessary. I know several players that managed to get gladiator that don't have any higher leveled alts.
Myself I'm sitting on over 1k games played this season, having a total of 4k+ games on my warlock alone and I've proven not to know every single class for 100%, yet I have more gladiator tittles then any other active poster on this forum... Learning what important takes some time, the rest simply doesn't matter.